Wyndham's new "Ovation" program offers exit solutions for their owners... interested?

jims1139 wrote:

Not being able to get a response on the phone whose number is the old Club Wyndham reservation line means that I may never get to use one of these points! I am getting the feeling that it is another Wyndham scheme (scam) to annoy its former owners. At least, I will not be hit with a maintenance fee ever again.

You hit the nail right on the head. We took advantage of Ovation as soon as we heard about it, NOT because we were unhappy with the Wyndham properties -- we actually liked all we traded into over the years -- but because we just HATED dealing with Wyndham (and Fairfield before the breakup of Cendant and the name change). They turned annoying owners into a diabolical science.

According to an email I received today, limited edition members will be able to book online beginning next week.

"According to an email I received today, limited edition members will be able to book online beginning next week."

If this is true, I may take back one or two of the zillion curses I have offered over the last few days. I wonder if this will happen along with the runout of the new website for Club Wyndham members (of which I'm now a former).

I just used Ovation to exit my timeshare ownership. It was easy, quick, and at no cost. I called in early January, signed paperwork within 3 weeks of call and was out by Early April. With another non-Wyndham timeshare, I paid $5,000 in December with a guarantee that if the 3rd party intermediary couldn't sell within 9 months, they'd buy it. It took them 5 months to find a buyer. Paperwork is being finalized right now. Everything is notarized, title searched, and recorded. I receive monthly status phone calls. The fee would have been $1200 less if I had timed things better. They had to pay my maintenance fees for this year. So Wyndham is easier and much cheaper.

I've been trying to get out for a year. I still have a balance on my contract. I've emailed and spoken to people on the phone who say they are going to help me but that doesn't happen. I can't use the timeshare because they say I need to buy more points. They told me on purchase that they would buy back at any time. Apparently that was a lie. I've been forced to stop payment to see if someone would contact me but all that has done is ruin my credit rating. Any suggestions would be great!

dianeh504 wrote:

I've been trying to get out for a year. ... I've been forced to stop payment to see if someone would contact me but all that has done is ruin my credit rating. Any suggestions would be great!

It seems to me that you are "out" right now. You stopped making payments. They'll foreclose, I think. And that will be it, I think. I'm not sure. I'm not a property attorney. Maybe someone who is who reads this will comment further.

dianeh504 wrote:

I've been trying to get out for a year. I still have a balance on my contract. I've emailed and spoken to people on the phone who say they are going to help me but that doesn't happen. I can't use the timeshare because they say I need to buy more points. They told me on purchase that they would buy back at any time. Apparently that was a lie. I've been forced to stop payment to see if someone would contact me but all that has done is ruin my credit rating. Any suggestions would be great!

If your credit rating has ALREADY been negatively impacted, then perhaps loan default reporting and foreclosure proceedings may have ALREADY occurred.

NO entity (including Wyndham) can or will ever "take back" a purchase if / when there is still an outstanding loan balance on the contract. Moreover, there is very often a third party lender involved, in which case the loan portion of the purchase transaction is essentially out of the hands of the resort chain anyhow.

It is unfortunate that someone may have untruthfully represented to you that the company would ever "buy back" your timeshare purchase. There is NO timeshare system in which that statement is true. Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt will sometimes exercise their "right of first refusal", but that only means that the company will "match" the resale price (on a fully paid off ownership ONLY) that a buyer is willing to pay the current owner in the resale market. This figure is of course always just a fraction of the original developer-direct price.

I recently "gave back" my timeshare through the Ovations program. After almost 20 years of paying a mortgage and a skyrocketing maintenance fee for a timeshare I was pressured into buying, Wyndham's Ovation program was a great opportunity to be free of this financial burden. The most difficult part was finding out about it and getting them to answer the phone. However, with some perseverance, I was able to complete the process-basically filling out some paparwork, then getting a few things signed and notarised. It was about a two month process. Well worth the effort. Wyndham did the responsible thing by giving folks a way out of what feels like an impossible trap. will other companies would follow their example?

candiceb49 wrote:

Wyndham did the responsible thing by giving folks a way out of what feels like an impossible trap. will other companies would follow their example?

Make no mistake --- Wyndham's "benevolence" is entirely self serving. They are essentially taking back (for free) that which they sold (for big bucks) in order to sell the product all over again to SOMEONE ELSE --- for big bucks once again. I'm very glad that you are happy with the personal outcome for you, but it's really a bit of a stretch to represent "Ovation" as "the responsible thing". This is a very shrewd business move on their part that will help fill their pockets quite nicely, thank you. It's hardly an act of "kindness" or "responsibility".

I wouldn't expect to see this as a "trend" with other chains, although Diamond is also accepting ownerships back (but for a $250 fee in their case).There are many ongoing lawsuits against DRI / Diamond, so in their their case accepting ownerships back might actually be more of a PR move than a profit-motivated decision, since precious few new people are actually buying into DRI anyhow.

How can I get out of my timeshare with Wyndham without spending a lot of money. I s there a guarantee?

jerryl138 wrote:

How can I get out of my timeshare with Wyndham without spending a lot of money. I s there a guarantee?

If you look at the top of this thread, you will see that Wyndham are offering deed backs for a limited number of owners, likely meaning that the unit has to have some resale value that Wyndham can turn around and sell it to another person. Also, the current owner has to be paid up on mortgage and maintenance fees.

If Wyndham refuse your request, there are other avenues you can try. Try listing your unit for sale or give away here on RedWeek. You can also try reputable timeshare websites such as E-Bay, Craigslist, My Resort Network, or TImeshare Users Group (aka "TUG"; tugbbs.com) which has a Bargain Deals section where you can list for free that you want to give away your unit. Keep in mind that some of these avenues might require that you pay the closing costs (about $200) and possible the next maintenance fee.

The one thing I would caution you about is looking to some of these so-called rescue/relief outfits that claim they can "cancel" your timeshare. There are also law firms and charities that I would be leery of too. They charge you money upfront and may or may not do what you hoped. With a little time and effort, you can get rid of it using the method I mentioned above.

jerryl138 wrote:

How can I get out of my timeshare with Wyndham without spending a lot of money. I s there a guarantee?

Just read all the dozens and dozens of entries in this Forum. You'll find out how to get out of your Wyndham timeshare without spending ANY money -- IF your Wyndham timeshare is one they will take back. If they'll take it back, you'll be out of it.

Now, of course, if they will not take your particular Wyndham timeshare back, you're on your own. There is no guarantee that they will take any and everything.

In any case, start by reading entries in this Forum. That's how I found out about Ovation and I've been free at last from Wyndham for more than a year.

Interested to know if anyone has been able to book on line (or by phone) and use the points made available by going with Ovation or Limited Edition. If so, please tell your secret!

Part of the secret if you want to call that for limited edition is you have to have bought directly from Wyndham. If you bought way back in the Fairfield days, it likely won't be offered. If you bought resale it won't be offered. If you bought and then paid off the loan from Wyndham in the last 10 years then you have a good chance of being offered use of points for 3 years without MF's.

In case some have missed this, you have to have paid off the timeshare completely and the MF's have to be up to date. Even if you bought resale and Wyndham won't take it back through Ovations most wyndham contracts either have some (not a lot) resale value or can at least be given away with no or very little out of pocket.

The people who are asking about "guarantees about getting out of it" are the ones that still owe $10,000, $20,000 or even more on the timeshare.

tracey75 wrote:

Part of the secret if you want to call that for limited edition is you have to have bought directly from Wyndham. If you bought way back in the Fairfield days, it likely won't be offered. If you bought resale it won't be offered.

Not correct. We bought points at two different Fairfield/Wyndham locations back in the Cendant Corp/Fairfield days and got rid of both through the Ovation program, plus we got "free" points for three years. Further, I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere in this Forum, probably many pages back by now, about someone who bought their points on the resale market but Ovation did take them back.

There may be no "rule of thumb." The answer for each individual who wants out of their Wyndham points is to CALL the Ovation line and ask.

Markl18, how long ago did you take advantage of ovations? It has become more strict in the last 6 or so months. Properties they would have given points for may now only be offered a give back. Resale properties that they would have taken back -especially older properties with higher MF are now being rejected. I suggest everyone who is at all interested contact Wyndham to find out what they are offering. It isn't a program with published rules. The "rules" are always changing and you can't rely on what they were doing even a few months ago because that may not be what they are offering now.

tracey75 wrote:

Markl18, how long ago did you take advantage of ovations? It has become more strict in the last 6 or so months. Properties they would have given points for may now only be offered a give back. Resale properties that they would have taken back -especially older properties with higher MF are now being rejected. I suggest everyone who is at all interested contact Wyndham to find out what they are offering. It isn't a program with published rules. The "rules" are always changing and you can't rely on what they were doing even a few months ago because that may not be what they are offering now.

You are certainly correct that there are NO stated rules for acceptance in Ovation --- it's a situation where the decision is made by "the invisible man behind the curtain". Wyndham can choose to just slam that Ovation door shut at any time, temporarily or permanently and without notice --- and with no obligation to explain their decision to ANYONE. After all, "Ovation" is a purely voluntary (and entirely self-serving) internal program in the first place, ingeniously invented and adopted by Wyndham as a shrewd business decision to acquire "new inventory" for absolutely free and then just sell it all over again via CWA (Club Wyndham Access) to "new players" --- at full freight pricing. That's a whole lot cheaper than building new properties, that's for sure. Nonetheless, it was a unexpected blessing for those who just wanted OUT of Wyndham and promptly acted upon those wishes via Ovation.

Sadly, Wyndham sales weasels at the resort / field level remain among the sleaziest and most aggressive anywhere --- second only to the slimy Westgate Weasels in my opinion.

Sales people are always moving around so the guy at Wyndham or Westgate today is the same guy at Marriott tomorrow. Some of the smaller companies in Hilton Head or Williamsburg, or Orlando may even be worse. I personally have a problem with DRI. Once at Williamsburg the aggressive parking pass lady who immediately started to ignore me when I told her my husband wasn't on the trip, turned to my 88yo grandmother who was with me and aggressively started to solicit a breakfast tour to learn about the resort.

tracey75 wrote:

Sales people are always moving around so the guy at Wyndham or Westgate today is the same guy at Marriott tomorrow. Some of the smaller companies in Hilton Head or Williamsburg, or Orlando may even be worse. I personally have a problem with DRI. Once at Williamsburg the aggressive parking pass lady who immediately started to ignore me when I told her my husband wasn't on the trip, turned to my 88yo grandmother who was with me and aggressively started to solicit a breakfast tour to learn about the resort.

Not sure that Marriott ever would (or would ever need to) employ the kind of aggressive, deceitful sales weasels found at Westgate or Wyndham, but your point is well taken. Glad that you mentioned DRI too --- their inclusion just about "rounds out" the top three U.S. developer "all stars" of sales weasels to be avoided like bubonic plaque or ebola virus.

There are certainly some "competitors" to be found for "sales weasel of the week" in Mexico, but the above three named developers surely top the list here within the U.S.

tracey75 wrote:

Some of the smaller companies in Hilton Head or Williamsburg, or Orlando may even be worse.

Stay away from Spinnaker/Southwind at Hilton Head (and Orlando and Branson). Did you get that? S-T-A-Y A-W-A-Y